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Marion Downs, on the Georgina River, became first cab off the rank with the Lake Eyre Basin Land for Wildlife Project when the owner, North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO), registered part of the property with the program.
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Longreach-based extension officer, David Akers said the registration would make a significant contribution to the protection of biodiversity in Queensland’s Channel Country.
“This registration is a first for western Queensland and a first for the Lake Eyre Basin Land for Wildlife project,” Mr Akers said.
Retiring Marion Downs managers and long-time NAPCO staff members, Bill and Rhondda Alexander said the area nominated had a double frontage to the Georgina River and included floodplains and a permanent waterhole.
Bill said the site contained a diverse range of plant species and was a significant breeding area and dry-season refuge for native fauna.
“Included in the site is one of the original paddocks that is no longer used and has been unstocked for at least 15 years,” he said.
“Once heavily impacted by the horses, goats and milking cows needed to manage and supply the huge station and its staff – Marion Downs is more than one million hectares – the site has recovered and is now an excellent example of Channel Country ecology.”
NAPCO chief executive officer Nigel Alexander said the voluntary listing reflected the company’s policy of environmentally sustainable land management and recognised the unique values of the Channel Country ecology.
Nigel said the Land for Wildlife site would remain unstocked and would be used as a land condition-monitoring site and to train staff in identification of pasture plant species.
David Akers said the Lake Eyre Basin Land for Wildlife project was a cooperative venture involving QPWS, the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group, the shires of Diamantina, Barcaldine, Tambo and Barcoo, and the Natural Heritage Trust.
“The project aims to acknowledge property management practices that benefit ecology as well as production, and to provide opportunities for landowners and their families to learn more about the ecology of their properties through field-based activities with QPWS technical staff,” he said.
“Registration is voluntary and is not linked to land title.
“All or part of a property may be registered and there is no requirement to change the land use.”
For more information about the Lake Eyre Basin Land for Wildlife project, phone David Akers on 4652 7333 or the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group 4658 0600.
The communities of the Lake Eyre Basin, through this organisation, continue to build their influence with all levels of government and industry.
For example: the Cooper’s Creek Catchment Committee has been approached by the Commonwealth Government for advice on managing the wetlands of the Channel Country; the Georgina Diamantina Catchment Committee is providing direct input to the Queensland Government’s draft Georgina Diamantina Water Resource Plan; and we have been allocated a position on the National Prickle Bush Management Group.
Having the ear of Government at the agency level in our day to day operations and at the Ministerial level through our role as the Community Advisory Committee to the Lake Eyre Basin Ministerial Forum has given the communities of the Basin control of their own destiny. It is also a recognition of the legitimacy of the Lake Eyre Basin initiative as a community owned and driven process working in partnership with all levels of government.
While our focus has shifted from planning to the important next stage of developing, supporting and implementing projects at a catchment and basin level, the underlying principles of the Lake Eyre Basin initiative remain constant.
We will:
- remain a community-based organisation that values and involves all people who live in and care for the Basin
- continue to respect and use local knowledge
- retain our cross-sectoral approach
- retain the integrity of the whole-of-basin approach
- continue to be a regional leader in natural resource management
- retain the values of inclusiveness, accountability, equity and respect for diversity, transparency, lifelong learning, and keeping pace with change
Renowned scientist and Director of the South Australian Museum, Dr Tim Flannery, gave Australia’s often-maligned pastoralists a morale-boosting pat on the back in the Australia Day Address for 2002.
In a speech ranging from colonial perceptions and actions to today’s multiculturalism and immigration, Flannery presented an understanding of the Australian environment that few can.
According to Flannery it was an arrogant colonial vision, unable to see and appreciate the subtle beauty of a strange new land, that tried to change it into a replica of Europe, destroying what wasn’t understood and introducing foreign plants and animals.
Yet he offers a ray of hope for a sustainable future in the form of pastoralists and farmers (often seen as rapers of the land) and gives the example of the Bell family of the Birdsville Track.
“…Today, as the Australian environment subtly teaches those who listen to it, Australians are undergoing a radical reassessment of their relationship with the land, particularly when it comes to the basics like food, water and fire. After 200 years of destruction, revolutionary changes are taking place in the countryside as farmers and graziers strive to make primary production sustainable in Australia’s unique conditions. Leading the way are people like the Bell family, who run cattle sustainably in the ultra-dry Lake Eyre Basin, or the many involved in the development of sustainable aquaculture. These people are my national heroes. They mean far more to me than Ned Kelly or the Man from Snowy River, because they’re not just acting out European dramas on an Australian stage; instead they are throwing out old, inappropriate European-based practices and inventing their own, distinctively Australian futures in a bid to create sustainability in this land.”
Dayrl Bell says it’s a wonderful accolade to have someone like Tim Flannery recognise the efforts of ordinary people in making a living off the land while looking after the environment.
I’m not doing anything special,” he says, “just looking after the country like my father and grandfather taught me.
“I’m no different to my neighbours, we’re all running cattle sustainably in pretty tough country.
“That means not just making a living off the land, but looking after it for future generations.”
Dayrl says modern road transport gives today’s pastoralists a management edge over those of 50 years ago. “We can move a lot of stock quickly when things get dry; it lets us look after our country better.
“You treat this country roughly and it’ll break you; treat it kindly and it’ll work in harmony with you.”
In his Australia Day address Tim Flannery also said, “I have no doubt that today many farmers are very far ahead of the majority of Australians in most aspects of environmental thinking. What’s needed now is a change in consumption patterns by city-dwellers to provide a market for sustainably produced products…”
Flannery says that urban-dwellers need to become well informed about what environmental sustainability really means, and how they need to alter their patterns of consumption in order to achieve it.
For a full transcript of the Australia Day Address 2002 go to http://www.adc.nsw.gov.au/address_content.html
In recent weeks we have had quite extensive media coverage from regional to national level. Most of this coverage was positive even though it sprang from the suggestion that Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group would not be eligible for non-project funding under the Natural Heritage Trust Mark2 program.
The Group is currently funded by NHT Mark1, SA and QLD state governments, the private sector, and the community. Part of this funding supports the Coordinating Group in its whole-of-Basin planning, coordination and representation.
As well as providing a whole-of-Basin view to government and industry, the Coordinating Group works to ensure that projects being implemented by catchment committees, individuals, government and industry have a strategic, Basin-wide benefit. The Group provides support and specialist knowledge to the catchment committees, along with a forum for all stakeholders to meet and determine directions for the benefit of the Basin and its communities.
It’s now time for the Coordinating Group to look at the new environment of NHT Mark2. Recent positive comments by Federal Agriculture Minister, Warren Truss and Queensland Natural Resources Minister, Stephen Robertson give me cause for optimism on the funding front even though we still have important issues to work through. We need to recommit to our already strong partnerships with government, industry and the community, and establish new strategic relationships that ensure the Group continues. It is, after all, the only organisation overseeing integrated natural resource management across the whole of the Lake Eyre Basin.
The Group is keen to continue open discussion with government so both parties can come to an agreement on the priorities for issues and actions in the Lake Eyre Basin.
This is a time of exciting change for the Group. It will determine the method of operation of our community-driven process that’s working to ensure a sustainable economic, ecological and cultural future for the whole of the Lake Eyre Basin.
In view of its strategic coordination role across one-sixth of Australia, the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group has been invited to fill a position on the recently formed National Prickle Bush Management Group.
The Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group is already coordinating, through the Cross Catchments Weeds Initiative of its catchment committees, a Parkinsonia Control Program that involves agencies, local government and landholders in Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia.
The National Prickle Bush Management Group (NPBMG) consists of a mix of community and agency representatives across northern Australia, and has been formed to coordinate action, and harness national commitment in the fight against three of Australia’s worst weeds – prickly acacia, parkinsonia and mesquite.
All three are recognised as Weeds of National Significance (WONS). Prickly acacia already covers 6 million hectares of Queensland’s Mitchell grass downs and threatens a further 50 million hectares of native grasslands. Parkinsonia infestations amount to 800,000 hectares of mostly watercourses and floodplains, while mesquite has aggressively invaded 800,000 hectares of rangelands to date.
A major role of the NPBMG will be to oversee the implementation of the respective national strategies for the three WONS. Due to similarities between the three – including their geographic distribution, potential spread and general appearance – the group intends to coordinate joint initiatives and action wherever possible.
Approximately $3.5 million in funding has been provided by the Commonwealth Government (Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia) to assist in implementing the national strategies for the three weeds over a two year period.
To advance on-ground efforts, the NPBMG has recently assessed community devolved grant applications for the three weeds. Twenty projects have been recommended for funding and a second round of devolved grants funding is to be advertised in mid-March.
For further information contact Nathan March on (07) 4742 1404.
The parkinsonia control program, being run by the Coordinating Group and its Cross-Catchment Weeds Initiative, is building momentum says Coordinating Group Chief Executive, Peter McLeod.
“Even before the money has been spent on killing trees, this program is delivering results,” he says.
“We received more than 30 project applications for funding, from landholder groups across Queensland and out into the Territory, and most of these were approved. So we now have more than 100 landholders who have developed full-blown pest management plans for their properties.
“This heightened awareness and strategic management planning is a significant achievement in itself - it’s assisting landholders to increase their capacity to deal with issues of economic and environmental impact.”
Coordinator, Nora Brandli says the program is also setting new standards in strategic weed control by using a coordinated, whole-of-catchment approach.
“Parkinsonia seed is water spread and water disregards state boundaries,” she said, “so that’s the way we’ve designed this program.
“Instead of parkinsonia control being a series of isolated efforts, we’re coordinating a whole-of-catchment approach that ignores lines on a map and maximises the punch we can give this pest.”
Parkinsonia was introduced to Australia in the late 1800s and has become a major weed threat to the highly productive pastoral country and areas of high ecological value in the Lake Eyre Basin.
The Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group was successful in obtaining $295,000 from AFFA (Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Australia) for the control of parkinsonia under the Weeds of National Significance Program because it is recognised that there is a strategic control opportunity in Australia’s inland river systems.
“We know we have heavy infestations in the north of the catchments of the Cooper, the Georgina and the Diamantina,” says Nora, “and we want to contain this while eradicating anything that has spread downstream.
An aerial survey of the Channel Country was conducted with helicopter time donated by petroleum company, Santos. This extended along the Cooper into South Australia and was done in early summer when the parkinsonia was flowering and easy to spot from the air.
“There were a few isolated, small infestations but nothing down the bottom end. Our focus now is to eradicate those small infestations, contain and reduce the major northern infestations, and prevent future downstream outbreaks.”
The individual projects of Lake Eyre Basin Parkinsonia Program will be conducted over the next 12 months with monitoring and follow-up work to be ongoing.
Ms Joselin Eatts of Winton has been appointed as the Indigenous Representative on the Georgina/Diamantina Catchment Committee in the first step of a long-term project aimed at getting greater Indigenous involvement in the natural resource management of the catchment.
John De Satge, Indigenous Land Management Facilitator with Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group in Longreach, is coordinating the project which will seek funds to set up an Indigenous Advisory Committee. This Indigenous Advisory Committee will provide advice to the catchment committee on issues which impact upon Indigenous groups within the catchment.
This could include issues such as Water Resource Management Plans, Vegetation Management Committees, Freshwater Ministerial Advisory Committee, Great Artesian Basin, salinity, soil erosion and water quality.
There is often a cross-over between culture and natural resource management which in some instances is not recognised in formal natural resource management processes and the Indigenous Advisory Committee will provide a two-way flow of information between the Georgina/Diamantina Catchment Committee and the Indigenous community.
The Indigenous Advisory Committee will be made up of representatives from those claimant groups within the Georgina Diamantina catchment who have lodged claims and been accepted by the National Native Title Tribunal.
According to John De Satge, identifying the Traditional Owners will be the hardest part of the process.
“Many Indigenous groups were removed from the landscapes after the 1960 Industrial Relations ruling of ‘same work; same pay’ when pastoralists couldn’t afford to pay such a large workforce,” he says.
“A lot of people were forced into reserves on the outskirts of towns and connection with country was lost. The forced movement of people onto large Aboriginal Reserves many miles away from the landscapes they grew up on further added to this loss and ability to carry out responsibility for country.”
Discussions have commenced with the National Native Title Tribunal to identify those claimant groups within the physical boundaries of the Georgina Diamantina catchment. The four Native Title Representative Bodies covering the area have already been identified. These are the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement of SA, Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Cental Qld Land Council Aboriginal Council and Qld South Representative Body Aboriginal Corporation Land Council.
Mr De Satge said there will need to be good coordination between these four Native Title Representative Bodies, the Georgina/Diamantina Catchment Committee and the staff of Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group.
An international team of cicada experts expanded the world’s knowledge of the species on a recent field study in the Lake Eyre Basin.
With the aid of recording equipment and computer technology, they compared song waveforms of the different species to gain a greater understanding of the evolution of cicada song.
Indeed, the song was recorded from a species previously thought to be silent.
The team was also able to collect several rare species for DNA sampling that will ultimately add to our knowledge of how life evolves.
The harvest of knowledge in the Basin was rich, and once more shows the importance of having regions such as the Lake Eyre Basin where natural biodiversity is treasured as part of everyday life.
The Red Centre is again enjoying a good season kicked off by good, widespread pre-Christmas rains. Pastoralists in this region that is ‘more often dry than not’, are revelling in their 3rd good season on the trot and the rare coincidence of record cattle prices.
It was against this background that the Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association held a pre-Christmas meeting at the Hayes family property, Deep Well, 85 kilometres south of Alice Springs.
Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group Chief Executive, Peter McLeod took the opportunity of a break between rains to attend the meeting and bring the pastoralists up to date with the initiatives of the Coordinating Group.
The Coordinating Group is seeking active participation from representative bodies within that part of the Lake Eyre Basin known as the Desert Rivers Region which is predominantly in the Northern Territory.
Peter McLeod says the Group is keen to get broad-based representation from all regions of the Basin not represented by a catchment committee.
“We have well established committees in the catchments of the Georgina Diamantina and the Cooper’s Creek,” says Peter.
“What we are working on now is broad-based representation from those regions of the Basin that, for a variety of reasons, may not wish to form a catchment committee.”
“In the Desert Rivers Region we are seeking members who can effectively represent the interests of Aboriginal, pastoral and urban stakeholders.
“This will provide the Coordinating Group with input from key stakeholder groups in the region while keeping those groups up to date with the initiatives of the Coordinating Group.
Also attending the meeting was Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group Deputy Chair, Angus Emmott. Himself a pastoralist, he welcomed the chance to hear first hand the issues facing central Australian cattle producers.
“It seems to me that, as well as the usual issues of feral animals and plants, a major issue in this area is markets,” he says.
“It could be argued that producers have the choice of going either north, south or east, but it is such a hell of a long way that freight must be a real killer.”
While in the Alice Springs area Peter McLeod and Angus Emmott also met with the Central Land Council and the Alice Springs Town Council with both bodies expressing an interest in continuing discussions on providing a representative to the Coordinating Group.
The Arid Areas Catchment Water Management Board of South Australia has begun the preparation of a catchment water management plan for the Far North Catchment of that state (see map).
The Board will work with water users and other interest groups to ensure the development of a useful and worthwhile plan for surface and ground waters in the catchment.
It wants to build on work already done by the community in other planning processes and seeks the help of the community to identify and fill in gaps over the life of the planning process.
While the Plan is for South Australia only, it will take into account the elements of the Queensland Water Management Plans for the Cooper and that being developed for the Georgina Diamantina as well as fit in with the Great Artesian Basin Consultative Council directions.
“We see the cross-border catchment committees of the Lake Eyre Basin – the Cooper's Creek Catchment Committee and the Georgina Diamantina Catchment Committee – along with the soil boards of South Australia and the Great Artesian Basin Consultative Council as being key stakeholders,” says David Leek, “and we’ll engage with them at every point of the 2 year consultation process.”
The process has begun with the Board formally asking for input on the content of the Plan (for example, key outcomes to be achieved by the plan) between January and March 2002, but welcomes comment and information from the community at any time. A fact sheet describing this process is available from the Board (see contact details at the end of this article).
David Leek says the Plan will be a statutory document with legal status in South Australia, and will also have to be compliant with the tenets of the Lake Eyre Basin Agreement for the cross-border management of water and related natural resources.
The Plan will guide the management of water resources of the area as part of an integrated approach to achieve economic, social and environmental outcomes of benefit to the community.
Further information about the Board and the Plan can be obtained by contacting:
David Leek
Executive Officer
Arid Areas Catchment Water Management Board
Phone: 08 8204 9131 E-mail: Leek.David@saugov.sa.gov.au
Karaoke was part of the entertainment at a recent family/community day in the township of Dajarra, some 160km south of Mt Isa.
Sports and other activities were held, with the Queensland Department of Sport and Recreation providing a large number of prizes and resources on the day for the many participants.
The purpose of the day was to bring both past and present members of the community together to help overcome the despair caused by the large number of recent deaths of Indigenous people in the community.
The day was coordinated by Ms Barbara Dempsey (Home and Community Care) and Sergeant Peter Flanders, and involved representatives from the Western Mining Company, the Centre for Rural and Remote Health, Queensland Department of Health (Dajarra and Mt Isa), the Queensland Education Department, and the Queensland Police Service (Dajarra and Boulia).
The Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group participated with a display of posters at the Jimberella Hall showing the landscape of the Lake Eyre Basin, bioregions, fish and weeds.
John De Satge, Indigenous Land Management Facilitator based at the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group’s Longreach office was, unfortunately, unable to uphold the high standard set by the many representatives within the catchment and declined the opportunity to participate in the Karaoke session.
Birdsville-based pastoralist, David Brook was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to primary industry, local government and the communities of Birdsville and the Outback on the recent Australia Day Honours list.
Among his achievements are the production and promotion of clean, green beef to the export market; more than a quarter of a century as secretary of the Birdsville Race Club; and a decade as Mayor of the Diamantina shire.
David said it was very nice to receive the award but without the help of a lot of people who filled in for him at home and gave him the free rein, he couldn’t have achieved what he has.
He also said there were many others who were equally as worthy.
“It’s about time some of the work in the Outback was recognised and I just happen to be the person they gave it to,” he said.
David has played a key role in the Lake Eyre Basin process for many years. He was heavily involved with the Lake Eyre Catchment Protection Group and is now a member of the Georgina Diamantina Catchment Committee.
Innamincka Regional Reserve Ranger, Christine Crafter has her sights firmly set on the feral pigs of the area.
With the recent run of good seasons, the feral pig population has reached an estimated 3000 across the Reserve. They destroy sensitive habitat, impact on native flora and fauna, and have the potential to be a major problem around tourist campgrounds, especially in dry times as campgrounds are sited on the main waterholes.
Christine said the feral pig cull at the end of January was a great success and has fulfilled several roles.
“We shot 262 pigs over 5 days in a risk management program to get rid of the pigs around the campgrounds,” she said.
“This has confirmed our estimates of the feral pig population and hopefully given us the impetus to move into a full-blown management program. If we don’t move on that now, the advantage from this cull will be lost.”
Reports indicate that feral pigs have now spread westward to Clifton Hills and Mungerannie as well as down Strzelecki Creek to Lake Blanche.
The Great Artesian Basin Consultative Council’s inaugural symposium, GAB FEST 2002, held in Toowoomba from the 10th to 13th of March, has been hailed as a success by Chairman, John Seccombe.
“We’re very pleased with the support and participation GAB FEST 2002 received,” he said.
“To have people with combined expertise, knowledge, experiences and an obvious dedication to the Great Artesian Basin, in one venue, all sharing their experiences and ideas, has been invaluable.”
The symposium provided a forum for Basin land-owners and business people, scientists, government officials and others to share experiences and information on the environment and culture of the Basin, water reform, new technologies for water management, and the social and economic benefits supported by this important water resource.
Speaker papers will be posted on the GABCC web site at www.gab.org.au for those who missed out on attending the symposium.
The new Administration Officer at the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group office in Longreach is Vikki Pershouse.
Vikki was born in Rockhampton but became steeped in the bush life as her father worked throughout the Central Queensland area at fencing, yard-building, mustering and managing properties.
It was not surprising that she eventually headed west to Winton where she worked as an apprentice chef, and later as an administration officer for government departments. During this period Vikki studied externally and is soon to complete her Diploma of Applied Science, Animal Production. She then hopes to complete her Degree and ultimately find employment in the field of animal reproduction.
Vikki says the things that hold her in the Basin are the lifestyle, the people and the landscape. Her passion is horses but she also enjoys reading, meeting new people and socialising.